Good World Cup semifinal ratings for ESPN, Univision

ESPN’s and Univision’s World Cup ratings continue to surpass those of four years ago even after the departure of the U.S. team.

The scoreless Netherlands-Argentina game that Argentina won on penalty kicks Wednesday recorded a 4.3 Nielsen rating and 6.8 million viewers, the best ever for a World Cup semifinal on ESPN. The previous best was a 4.2 rating with 6.6 million viewers for the Brazil-Germany game Tuesday.

Univision says it averaged 5.8 million viewers for Brazil-Germany and 5.4 million for Netherlands-Argentina, putting the two-network totals at 12.4 million for Brazil-Germany and 12.2 million for Netherlands-Argentina.

In Houston, Brazil-Germany rated 2.9 on ESPN and 6.5 on Univision for a 9.4 total, which would equal an average audience of 215,000 households. Netherlands-Argentina rated 2.9 on ESPN and 5.6 on Univision for an 8.5 total (194,596 households).

For comparison purposes, the combo ratings for Brazil-Germany were 13.2 in New York, 18.5 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale, 14.4 in Los Angeles, 5.9 in Dallas-Fort Worth and 8.3 in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose. Combo ratings for Netherlands-Argentina included 11.5 in New York, 16.6 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale and 6.6 in Dallas-Fort Worth.